Khattar to be next Haryana Chief Minister

He is the first leader from the BJP and also the first Punjabi to become the Chief Minister of the State.

October 21, 2014 02:34 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 09:13 pm IST - Chandigarh

Manohar Lal Khattar, flanked by Central Observers Dinesh Sharma and Venkaiah Naidu, accepts greetings of well wishers in Chandigarh. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

Manohar Lal Khattar, flanked by Central Observers Dinesh Sharma and Venkaiah Naidu, accepts greetings of well wishers in Chandigarh. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

First-time legislator Manohar Lal Khattar, 61, is set to become the 21st Chief Minister of Haryana.

Mr. Khattar, a Punjabi, pipped other aspirants to the post owing to his RSS background and proximity to top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.

He was unanimously elected leader of the BJP’s 47-member legislature group on Tuesday, following which he and senior BJP leaders met Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki and apprised him of the decision.

The swearing-in will be held at the Tau Devi Lal stadium in Panchkula on October 26. Mr. Khattar won the Karnal seat with a margin of 63,773 votes.

State party chief and Mahendragarh legislator Ram Bilas Sharma proposed Mr. Khattar’s name in the legislature party meeting and several others, including Capt. Abhimanyu and Om Prakash Dhankar, backed his candidature. BJP observers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Dinesh Sharma were present. Mr. Khattar has been a member of the BJP’s national executive and senior RSS pracharak. He was responsible for screening party candidates.

Mr. Khattar from Rohtak entered the Karnal electoral battlefield as an outsider and met with resistance not just from local cadres but also the BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Karnal, Ashwini Kumar Minna.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.